Total Warfare and Compulsory Labor: A Study of the Military-Industrial Complex in Germany During World War I

Cinema’s Military Industrial Complex examines how the American military has used cinema and related visual, sonic, and mobile technologies to further its varied aims. The essays in this book address the way cinema was put to work for purposes of training, orientation, record keeping, internal and external communication, propaganda, research and development, tactical analysis, surveillance, physical and mental health, recreation, and morale. The contributors examine the technologies and types of films that were produced and used in collaboration among the military, film industry, and technology manufacturers. The essays also explore the goals of the American state, which deployed the military and its unique modes of filmmaking, film exhibition, and film viewing to various ends. Together, the essays reveal the military’s deep investment in cinema, which began around World War I, expanded during World War II, continued during the Cold War (including wars in Korea and Vietnam), and still continues in the ongoing War on Terror.

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Introduction

10.5406/illinois/9780252038686.003.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas I. Faith

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Public Image ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Institutional History ◽

World War ◽

Military Industrial Complex ◽

History Of ◽

The Military ◽

The U.S

This book documents the institutional history of the Chemical Warfare Service (CWS), the U.S. Army organization responsible for chemical warfare, from its origins in 1917 through Amos A. Fries's departure as CWS chief in 1929. It examines the U.S. chemical warfare program as it developed before the nation began sending soldiers to fight in France during World War I; the American Expeditionary Force's experiences with poison gas on the Western Front; the CWS's struggle to continue its chemical weapons program in a hostile political environment after the war; and CWS efforts to improve its public image as well as its reputation in the military in the first half of the 1920s. The book concludes with an assessment of the CWS's successes and failures in the second half of the 1920s. Through the story of the CWS, the book shows how the autonomy of the military-industrial complex can be limited when policymakers are confronted with pervasive, hostile public opinion.

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The Political Economy of the Origins of the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States

The Journal of Economic History ◽

10.1017/s0022050700034069 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 369-375 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Ben Baack ◽

Edward Ray

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

World War I ◽

Interest Groups ◽

Large Scale ◽

The United States ◽

The Political ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

World War ◽

Military Industrial Complex ◽

The Military

Despite the attention given by scholars to the military-industrial complex few studies have attempted to pinpoint and explain its origin. In this paper we argue that the coalescing of business, military, and political interest groups in support of a military build-up in the United States during peacetime occurred in the years between the Civil War and World War I. It was during this period that we observe the roots of institutional arrangements between the military and industry for the purpose of large-scale weapons acquisitions.

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An Organizational Perspective on the Military-Industrial Complex

The Business History Review ◽

10.2307/3113037 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 250-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Robert D. Cuff

Keyword(s):

World War I ◽

The United States ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

World War ◽

Goods And Services ◽

Military Industrial Complex ◽

Private And Public ◽

The Military ◽

Future Work ◽

The Relationship

Is there a “military-industrial complex” in the United States? What is the relationship between business, government, and the military with its needs for vast quantities of goods and services? How has organization for war and defense changed since the demands of World War I first made such questions important? How much do we know about what actually happened between World War I and Vietnam to change the relationship between private and public organizations? Professor Cuff discusses the complexities involved in trying to answer such historical questions, and prescribes a professional historian's regimen for future work on this subject.

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